Anti-Abortion Lobby: Don’t Make Us Tell Women We’re Not Doctors

In many US states, anti-abortion activists have successfully introduced bills that would require women who want abortions to be forced to undergo pointless invasive examinations with a vaginal wand and then to stare for some period of time at the resulting sonogram. The anti-abortion lobby claims that this is important because women should have as much information as possible before making the choice to abort, because more information is always better. That’s why when you go to see a doctor to treat foot fungus, you are required by law to view that horrific Lamisil commercial where a cartoon fungus goblin levers a toenail up and climbs inside. Don’t look away or we’ll have to start it over! You NEED to know what this fungus is up to before we can get rid of it!

Because the anti-abortion crowd cares so much about giving women ALL the information they need to make a decision, Assemblyman David Chiu from right here in San Francisco introduced a measure requiring anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” to tell their clients that they are entitled to a range of free or low-cost options provided by the state of California, including abortion. They’ll also be required to tell women if they don’t have a licensed doctor on staff.

Because women deserve to know all the facts, right? Why, I’d be very surprised indeed if I were to find out that all 228 crisis pregnancy centers in California weren’t already doing this.

And I’d be downright shocked if, say, several of those centers filed lawsuits in order to be able to withhold that helpful information about their clients’ rights and healthcare.

Oh, hold on….yes, that’s actually exactly what has happened. Weird! I was sure I’d be shocked.

I guess anti-abortion proponents don’t actually care about women having all the information they need to make an informed decision, and that they actually prefer to control and manipulate the information they do receive in order to trick them into not having abortions. Oh and by the way, the stupid sonogram bullshit doesn’t even work. A study found that hardly anyone ever changes their mind after seeing a sonogram, and the few who do were genuinely on the fence anyway. But giving women actually useful information about all their healthcare options and letting them know whether they’re speaking with a licensed doctor or not? That may actually allow them to make an informed decision, and god forbid, the anti-abortion can’t have that.

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca leads a team of skeptical female activists at Skepchick.org. She travels around the world delivering entertaining talks on science, atheism, feminism, and skepticism. There is currently an asteroid orbiting the sun with her name on it. You can follow her every fascinating move on Twitter or on Google+.

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The Skepchick Network is a collection of smart and often sarcastic blogs focused on science and critical thinking. The original site is Skepchick.org, founded by Rebecca Watson in 2005 to discuss women’s issues from a skeptical standpoint.